


I’d trust you with my life (even after all this)

by necromimetics



Series: Even after all this [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: 3x20 predictions, Alliance Rune (Shadowhunter Chronicles), Canon-Typical Violence, Hurt Magnus Bane, M/M, Magic Depletion, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-02-04 18:21:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18609976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/necromimetics/pseuds/necromimetics
Summary: “Do you trust Magnus?” she demanded. “I mean really trust him. With your life.”A beat of heavy silence, and then Alec spoke, so quiet Magnus barely heard him over the noise of the battle.“Of course I do.”Triumphant, Clary turned back to Magnus, fire in her eyes.“Do you trust Alec?”——————Essentially a bunch of ideas for 3x20 that came to me during an airport layover. I know shtv won’t give me the content I desire so I had to do it myself.





	I’d trust you with my life (even after all this)

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fan fiction I’ve written since I was a semi-popular wattpad author in the Percy Jackson fandom at age 11. Enjoy?
> 
> I took a few (read: a lot) of liberties with how the alliance rune works because I haven’t read the books and also I do what I want.

“Magnus, whatever you’re doing is NOT working,” Clary yelled, ducking a blast of fire and retaliating by throwing one of her blades upward, the demon disappearing in a blast of sparks and smoke.

If looks could kill, the one Magnus threw Clary would have eviscerated her and every one of her living relatives into piles of ash. 

“I’m working on it, biscuit.”

“Jace, cover me!” Clary darted over to Magnus. His magic was swirling around the rift, but it wasn’t getting any smaller. 

“What’s going on? If we don’t close it they’ll keep coming. I don’t know how much longer we can hold out.” 

Magnus let out a deep breath, refocusing his energy and sending a stronger blast of magic towards the rift. 

“I don’t know if I’m powerful enough to close it myself,” the warlock finally admitted. 

Clary looked at him incredulously. 

“But...you’re...” she gestured at him, “you know...you.” 

“Yes, but this type of rift...it would normally require the strength of at least three warlocks to close. Two, if one of them was me.” He flashed Clary a slightly strained smile, winking at her. 

“Well...can’t you...I don’t know, portal in some more warlocks?”

“It’s not that simple.” Magnus sighed, shaking his head and dropping his hands to his sides. “And even if it was, Lorenzo couldn’t give two shits what happens to Idris. He would never allow anyone to help me.” 

Magnus shot a ball of red magic out towards a pack of Ravenor demons that had cornered Izzy. Jogging over to them, she looked between Magnus and Clary.

“What’s going on?”

“Magnus can’t seal the rift. He needs more power. And we can’t bring any more warlocks into Idris.” 

Izzy frowned, turning back to the fight and curling her whip around the leg of a demon bearing down on Jace. 

“So the new plan is...” Izzy questioned.

“We kill as many of them as we can while we try to come up with a new plan,” Magnus filled in, magic crackling at his fingertips.

Turning to Clary, the warlock furrowed his brow. 

“Are you alright, biscuit?” 

Clary was focused, immobile, staring deep into the rift. She didn’t respond to Magnus, didn’t even acknowledge his question.

Another moment of silence from her, as Magnus focused on shooting a few wraiths out of the sky and Izzy worked to turn the smaller ones scuttling across the ground to dust with the crack of her whip. 

Suddenly, Clary whirled around and grabbed Magnus’s wrist. 

“I have something.”

Magnus quirked an eyebrow. 

“Do tell, my dear.”

“It’s...a rune.”

“I’m afraid that won’t be much help for me.” Magnus titled his head towards her. “Unless you’ve created a rune that can seal rifts.”

“No, no.” Clary shook her head, eyes wide. “It’s a rune that can be used on Downworlders. Well, sort of. I don’t know how I know any of this it just...came to me but...it’s an...alliance rune.”

“Never heard of that one, but no surprise,” Magnus quipped.

“It’s sort of like the parabatai rune. A connection. But between a shadowhunter and a downworlder. They can share power, like- I don’t know like a feedback loop. Your magic could run through a shadowhunter, and then you could draw back on that magic, strengthened by rune power.”

Before Magnus could even protest, Clary was off, dodging through demons and shadowhunters, shouting at the top of her lungs, “Alec! Alec get over here! Alec!” 

Magnus watched her run off, hissing out a breath of air. 

“Because this day couldn’t get any worse,” he mused to himself 

Clary returned soon thereafter, an annoyed-looking Alec in tow, Jace following not far behind them.

“What do you want, Clary?” The tone in Alec’s voice was serious, and despite himself, Magnus couldn’t help but look the older Lightwood up and down for a moment, taking in Alec’s ichor-stained black jeans and ripped t-shirt. A thin sheen of sweat graced his forehead and his quiver seemed to be running dangerously low on arrows. Without even thinking about it, Magnus snapped his fingers, drawing the arrows from wherever they had landed on the battlefield and replacing them. 

It was only in that moment that Alec seemed to even realize how close he was standing to Magnus, and he instinctively took a step back. 

“Clary.” His voice was even tenser, but still authoritative.

“Alec, hear me out.” The redheads eyes were shining. “Magnus doesn’t have enough power to seal the rift. But- I have a rune. Like a connection rune, like the parabatai rune. You can put it on yourself and then Magnus and it will let you share power, in a way. You’ll be able to use magic, to an extent, and you’ll also be able to give Magnus enough warlock energy to seal the rift by sort of...” she waved her hands vaguely. “Filtering his magic with angelic power and your runes.”

Magnus cut in before Alec could respond. 

“Biscuit, there might be a...more appropriate pair of guinea pigs for your alliance rune.” 

Clary looked at him curiously, shaking her head. “No, no. You’re the only warlock here and it has to be someone you’re close to. The rune will work off of your bond, the stronger of a bond you already share with each other, the stronger you both will be.”

Magnus winced. “In that case, I really think Alec might not be the best choice.”

“Do you have a better option? Do you have a stronger bond with me, or Izzy, or Jace, than you have with Alec?” Clary stalked closer to Magnus as she spoke, looking at him incredulously. 

Once she reached him, she spun on her heel and turned to Alec. 

“Do you trust Magnus?” she demanded. “I mean really trust him. With your life.” 

A beat of heavy silence, and then Alec spoke, so quiet Magnus barely heard him over the noise of the battle.

“Of course I do.” 

Triumphant, Clary turned back to Magnus, fire in her eyes. 

“Do you trust Alec?”

Magnus mulled the question over in his head. After only a moment, he closed his eyes and let out a breath of air, dipping his head down slightly.

“I do.” 

And it was the truth. Even after everything that Alec had done to him, all the shadowhunter had put him through. He trusted Alec more than anyone.

With a grin, Clary pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and doodled a rune onto it, handing it to Alec. 

The reality of holding the rune in his hand seemed to snap Alec out of his reverie.

“I am not doing this.” 

Clary’s face fell.

“We have no idea what this,” Alec held up the drawing of the rune, “can even do. It’s never been tested and angelic runes can’t be used on downworlders. Unless your brilliant plan involves killing our only hope of closing the rift, this isn’t going to help.”

Before Clary could argue, Magnus cut in. For some reason, Alec’s distaste for the idea made it a touch more appealing to him. 

“We don’t have any other options. I can’t close the rift. If Clary says this rune can be used on downworders, I trust her.” 

“If you’re going to do something, do it now!” At this point in the conversation, everyone had basically forgotten that Jace and Izzy were single-handedly trying to cover for the three of them. 

At the exclamation from his parabatai, Alec pulled out his stele, muttering something to himself about what a pain in the ass having Clary around was. He took another look at the paper he was holding in one hand, before pulling up his shirt to begin to trace the rune onto himself.

Before he could even touch the stele to his skin, Clary’s hand shot out and stopped him. 

“No.” She looked deep in thought for a moment before stepping back, gesturing at Alec’s left hand. “On your hand.” 

The echoing words from the day of his almost-wedding came crashing back over him. 

_“A rune on the hand, a rune on the heart.”_

Alec grit his teeth and complied, drawing the shape Clary had indicated into the back of his hand.

Upon completion, he made no move towards Magnus, barely even looking at him. Taking matters into his own hands, Magnus walked over to the shadowhunter, elegantly extending one hand towards Alec. 

When Alec poised his stele over the offered limb, Magnus noticed that the archer’s hands, normally so steady and sure, were shaking almost imperceptibly. 

“You ready?” Alec asked, making full eye contact with Magnus for the first time since the exchange began. Magnus realized Alec was giving him a last chance to back out. After all, this rune could kill him. Or make him go crazy. Or both.

“Yeah, I’m ready.” 

Alec dipped his head down to focus, holding Magnus’s wrist steady with his already-marked hand and tracing the lines gently, precisely. 

Upon completion, both runes glowed golden bright, and it seemed to be upon instinct alone that Alec clasped his rune-marked hand with Magnus’s as the two were enveloped in a bright white glow. 

When the light faded, Alec’s first reaction was to lay a hand on Magnus’s shoulder to ensure he was alright. About halfway through this action, he fully came to his senses, his hand pausing in the air and then dropping back down to his side. Magnus seemed significantly not dead, and that was enough for his peace of mind for now. 

The fear of the rune killing Magnus or destroying his mind disapating quickly, Alec was able to focus in on himself. He flexed his arm muscles slightly, curling his fingers. He felt something warm coursing through his veins, something warm and _alive_. When he stretched his fingers out again, a small shower of red sparks flew from them. 

“It actually worked...” he muttered, mostly to himself.

Magnus was watching Alec intently, but at those whispered words he tore himself away from the sight of Alec testing out his magic. He could still feel his magic thrumming right under his skin, but there was something else. In a way, he could feel Alec, he could feel how his own magic was flowing through the shadowhunter. And there was something else, something quieter but brighter, the gentle hum of angelic energy. 

Magnus felt the hum grow louder, felt renewed energy rush into him and he looked over at Alec, who was running his stele over a rune on his chest. 

“So that’s what it feels like,” Magnus mused, eyes fixed on Alec’s bare torso. 

Once Alec finished activating the necessary runes and turned his head to Magnus, the warlock immediately looked away.

”Focus, Bane,” he hissed to himself under his breath. Now was really not the time to get distracted by how hot his ex-boyfriend was. He turned his attention back to the growing rift in front of them. 

_”Well, here goes nothing,”_ he thought to himself. 

“Alec,” Magnus started out, and immediately the shadowhunter was at his side. 

“I’ll take care of the incantation,” the warlock continued. “I need you to cover me. As soon as the demons sense me making any progress in closing the rift they’ll swarm on me.”

“Anything else?”

“I’ll be drawing pretty heavily on the magic in you, as well as your angelic powers. Don’t pass out. And don’t die.” 

Alec snorted. 

“That all?” He notched an arrow and Magnus wondered if Alec realized that he had set the tip ablaze with a red glow, sparks shooting wildly from the end. 

Before Magnus could respond, a blast of fire from a wraith caused Alec to jump into action, aiming the arrow and taking the wraith down in a blast of smoke and fire. He notched a set of five arrows, shooting them off at the demons that fell where the wraith has turned into dust. Guided by magic, the arrows spread out, weaving through the battlefield to destroy the smaller demons attempting to escape into the havoc. 

Magnus turned back to the rift, taking a deep breath and tugging experimentally at the magical bond connecting him to Alec. The angelic hum reached a crescendo, mixing with the buzzing of Magnus’s natural warlock magic, and he began the incantation, tendrils of red magic flowing out of his hands and connecting with the edges of the rift. 

He barely heard the excited outburst of “It’s working!” or saw the flash of red hair that passed through his peripheral vision. He was focused, pouring all of the energy he could muster and all he could draw out of Alec. Time seemed to stop. 

Alec felt something. The rough tug of energy he has grown used to subsided, and he felt a wave of pure, unadulterated exhaustion pass over him like a coffin lid being closed. He glanced down at his hand, breath quickening when no rune was found there. He whipped around, Magnus’s name already on his lips, and his eyes caught the warlock, collapsed completely on the ground, the expanse where the rift once lay now nothing but smooth ground. 

In an instant Alec was at Magnus’s side, pulling the limp warlock into his lap, muttering his name like a prayer. He cradled Magnus’s head gently. 

“No...no, no. Please.” He could barely make out Magnus’s face through the tears gathering in his eyes. 

Alec shook the body in his arms gently, his lips forming soundless words and one hand carding though Magnus’s hair. 

The battle had died down at that point. Izzy was by Alec’s side, although the older Lightwood didn’t even register it. Jace and Clary stood nearby, hanging back slightly, hand-in-hand. 

Alec turned to Clary, eyes wild and desperate and terrified. 

“The rune...it’s gone. That doesn’t-it doesn’t mean...does it?”

Clary shook her head, eyes downcast. 

“I don’t know,” she replied. 

Alec returned his attention to Magnus, pulling the warlock closer to him.

“Stay with me. C’mon, stay with me.” The words were barely a whisper. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, please, no.” 

Alec cupped Magnus’s cheek in his hand and leaned down to press a gentle kiss to the warlock’s forehead. 

“Please,” Alec rasped out. One final, desperate plea. 

Magnus’s eyes cracked open slightly and Alec let out a strangled half-sob. 

Magnus’s eyes opened fully, traveling across the scene set out in front of him. Jace’s look of amazement, Clary’s worry, Izzy’s relief, and finally Alec. His Alec. The Alec who told him days ago that he didn’t love him. The Alec that was currently cradling him in strong, warm arms, his hazel eyes flashing with terror and grief and relief and something else Magnus could only describe as love. 

As quickly as it began, it was over. Alec shifted, taking care to settle Magnus into a sitting position before standing up and backing away, hands clasped behind him, face once again a mask of apathy. 

Izzy was at his side next, wrapping Magnus’s arm around her shoulder and helping him stand. He managed it, barely, leaning almost his entire weight against Isabelle. With a prompting push from Clary, Jace stepped up and wrapped Magnus’s other arm around his shoulder, helping to keep the warlock on his feet. 

Izzy wrapped an arm around Magnus’s waist, giving him a gentle squeeze. 

“Give him time, Magnus,” she implored. “This is more complicated than any of us can imagine.”

“Take him to a healer.” Alec’s measured, almost monotone voice cut in. “I’ll take care of the rest here. Meet me back at the institute as soon as you can.” 

No one dared protest.

The sound of Alec’s retreating footsteps left Magnus feeling more alone than he had in centuries.

**Author's Note:**

> I actually wrote part 2 before writing this part? And part 2 has the actual malec reunion and many other soft things. 
> 
> Anyways I hope y’all enjoyed this?


End file.
